I have no issue with taxing luxury items. I've already pointed that out. The higher the elasticity of price, the lower the taxes. You could double the prices on luxury items and it would not change anything. But an import tax on luxury items is money that the importer has to come out of his pocket to pay first rather than after he sells it. If bahamians made a lot of money on luxury items, then this would make sense. But I don't think Bahamians do. So it doesn't make sense. I may be wrong, since I'm not in the Bahamas, then the 20,000 dollar rolex and 40,000 pateks are probably flying off the shelves (sarcasm). So why force people to pay a tax on items that'll probably sit on their shelves for extended periods of time??
Here is where tourism comes in. WE...do not buy these items on a daily basis, but the tourist buy them on a daily basis. In this case, in relation to food items being a continuous sale to consumers on a daily basis, luxury items downtown, are continuous sales to separate tourists on a daily basis.

We need to hit them, as well as the people who buy jewllery anyways; the Christmas and the Valentines day shoppers. It would not decrease profit, as the sales would not be affected due to taste and seasonal buying. Also, let the retailer put the price on it to consumers at the shelf, as well as making it work in conjunction with other spread out taxes. Just spread it around, and put it where it matters the most.



Re. Gladstone:
The government should've implemented a quality and assurance agency like the USDA. Or have USDA inspectors visit the facilities. I dunno what the government could've done to stop it. From what I heard, the primary issue was management's ineptitude. That's the word on the street.

This is what I heard. But also, I worked for a place that sold chicken on a daily basis, in fact, chicken was our business. The financial controller told me that Gladstone, just could not produce the chicken fast enough, so we had to buy chicken from Conagra to supply our demand. Hence, since we had to turn over chicken, we had to import to meet the demand and Gladstone was a last resort after we had stock. When we had stock, Gladstone would lose out...so, they had a lot of wasted product

You can chalk this up to inpetitude, but fact of the matter is, government did not step in to secure this industry. We should be exporting chickens....
:hammer:

And you are right, we should implement a health and safety standards branch of government like the USDA.

The prices are going up because its costing the suppliers more to purchase and import. I don't think theres a conspiracy to rob us of all our money including "disposable income".
Buy Bahamian! Buy Bahamian! We hear it all the time, but things produced locally are no cheaper so whats the incentive? Blanco Bleach for instance costs $4.75 per gallon. Clorox isn't much more and people tend to go with brands they know! Chicken is produced locally in Abaco, but there is no great savings there either! My child doesn't like milk or dry cereal, so thats one BIG expense I don't have!

The prices are going up because its costing the suppliers more to purchase and import. I don't think theres a conspiracy to rob us of all our money including "disposable income".
Buy Bahamian! Buy Bahamian! We hear it all the time, but things produced locally are no cheaper so whats the incentive? Blanco Bleach for instance costs $4.75 per gallon. Clorox isn't much more and people tend to go with brands they know! Chicken is produced locally in Abaco, but there is no great savings there either! My child doesn't like milk or dry cereal, so thats one BIG expense I don't have!


I know, world prices have gone up, we should expand where we import from, as well as take taxes off of the border on all health and food items, just to give us some ease man. My Gawd...at least make it a little easier for us.

Spread that tax around to other places....NIB, NHI and around to durables and luxury items. We need to get our priorities right.


Jeezzus!

By the way, I saw that the FNM lowered prices on juices and that was about it. Am I wrong?

Also, what did they do with stamp tax?

Alien:

I knew you were gonna go there with tourism. Didn't 9/11 teach us that tourism is fickle?? And now with the US implementing all of these security measures, things will only get worse. And from what I know, most of the tourists that come to the Bahamas usually come by boat. Which means they don't plan on coming to hang out and shop for days. I don't put any faith in tourist dollars. That's too much dependence on foreigners. Something we need to get away from.

So there was too much demand for chicken?? And Gladstone couldn't expand fast enough?? Wow. That is ineptitude. Most business people pray for the day when demand exceeds supply. Because it means that they can continually expand at a significant profit. The government probably could've helped finance this expansion because it would've meant more jobs and lower prices for bahamian produce.

Gullyrock:

That's where economies of scale come in, but it requires expansion. If demand for chicken is higher than supply, then its probably still cheaper to produce more chicken than it is not to produce (or import chicken). Its not a conspiracy to rob Bahamians. But its a severe lack of judgment that cost Bahamians.

So there was too much demand for chicken?? And Gladstone couldn't expand fast enough?? Wow. That is ineptitude. Most business people pray for the day when demand exceeds supply. Because it means that they can continually expand at a significant profit. The government probably could've helped finance this expansion because it would've meant more jobs and lower prices for bahamian produce.

That's where economies of scale come in, but it requires expansion. If demand for chicken is higher than supply, then its probably still cheaper to produce more chicken than it is not to produce (or import chicken). Its not a conspiracy to rob Bahamians. But its a severe lack of judgment that cost Bahamians.


I still do not understand how that happened to this day Ting-um. I just don't get it. I mean, they closed down because they could not meet the demand....I mean, does that happen often, or is that wierd thing that is not supposed to happen; like lightening striking the same place twice!?!
:dgi:

Boy I dont even want to get started on the outrageous price increases in the food stores...

Have you noticed that the price on Dairy and Meat items increased this past week?


My God!!!! yinna crying already!!! Yinna voted for a gang of lackeys who pride themselves on being the facilitators of those minority of businessmen who are determine to rape, pillage and plunder the Bahamian economy and people with impunity. :hammer: Now I wake up this morning and suddenly Yinna hollering about the price of orange juice and veggies???!!!
Cry babies, cry babies!!

nah man, cant handle that stuff, diabetes and all.



You have diabetes and you are eating all that junk food???

Rory man you better learn how to cook and put meals in the freezer to microwave or heat up later.

I am probably the cheapest person on this forum!! LOL! Over here I shop at the cheap grocery store. The one where you pay for bags and a grocery cart.

I am a "semi organinc" eater that stays away from High fructose corn syrup and trans fat. I still don't buy expensive stuff though, I just carefully read the labels.

Still with my little garden, I make out okay.

I feel for yinna. The food is bad PLUS it's expensive.

My God!!!! yinna crying already!!! Yinna voted for a gang of lackeys who pride themselves on being the facilitators of those minority of businessmen who are determine to rape, pillage and plunder the Bahamian economy and people with impunity. :hammer: Now I wake up this morning and suddenly Yinna hollering about the price of orange juice and veggies???!!!
Cry babies, cry babies!!

Boy you special nah! Food prices have been going up for months now following the sale of Winn Dixie to that Bahamian conglomerate. Ever heard of CONTEXT my friend?

My God!!!! yinna crying already!!! Yinna voted for a gang of lackeys who pride themselves on being the facilitators of those minority of businessmen who are determine to rape, pillage and plunder the Bahamian economy and people with impunity. :hammer: Now I wake up this morning and suddenly Yinna hollering about the price of orange juice and veggies???!!!
Cry babies, cry babies!!


Ok Lumumba...even I een gone there yet. LOL....
:voodoo:

I still do not understand how that happened to this day Ting-um. I just don't get it. I mean, they closed down because they could not meet the demand....I mean, does that happen often, or is that wierd thing that is not supposed to happen; like lightening striking the same place twice!?!
:dgi:


I mean it could happen, if you have contracts and you can't meet them - then your business goes elsewhere.

But in this scenario it is baffling that it happened. If I'm supposed to supply 50 cars and I'm late supplying them, then my buyer goes somewhere else, I may have a hard time unloading those 50 cars. But chicken in the Bahamas is a staple. If you start selling chicken from the back of a car on the side of wulff road people will stop and buy it.

No, staple produce in the Bahamas should be imported. Its just silly. All of this stuff can and should be made at home, much much cheaper than importing it. I know I keep saying and everybody knows it. But nobody's doing it. Including me. I would love to go in with a group of Bahamians and start in Abaco, Andros and Eleuthera. All fish, chicken, beef, pork, fruits and vegetables produced at home. But in order to expand, the government has to provide the infrastructure to these islands - which they've been lacking since the 1970s.

I mean it could happen, if you have contracts and you can't meet them - then your business goes elsewhere.
But in this scenario it is baffling that it happened. If I'm supposed to supply 50 cars and I'm late supplying them, then my buyer goes somewhere else, I may have a hard time unloading those 50 cars. But chicken in the Bahamas is a staple. If you start selling chicken from the back of a car on the side of wulff road people will stop and buy it.
No, staple produce in the Bahamas should be imported. Its just silly. All of this stuff can and should be made at home, much much cheaper than importing it. I know I keep saying and everybody knows it. But nobody's doing it. Including me. I would love to go in with a group of Bahamians and start in Abaco, Andros and Eleuthera. All fish, chicken, beef, pork, fruits and vegetables produced at home. But in order to expand, the government has to provide the infrastructure to these islands - which they've been lacking since the 1970s.


Sounds like an infant industry case. Which would put import products at risk:eek: LOL....

You would have to ask, who would care whether or not import competing goods are at risk? The consumers don't care, as they would get goods cheaper "supposedly". And local producers don't care, as they would be able to sell their goods.

But agriculture, as in many cases around the world with new industry, has always had a habit of remaining on the welfare scheme; they talk about poor people being on welfare, those farmers have been on the welfare scheme since I can remember. But anyways, not many governements want to subsidize on a good that consumers can get at a better short term rate, or for that matter, start on the road to government subsidy; because once you start, you can never go back.

However, in the case of Gladstone farms, government should have bailed them out; administered corporate guidance, and taken the cost of loss of product, until the firm caught itselt. I say this because it is not a new firm, but an established firm with a market name, which bodes well considering the demand we have for chicken. The government should have worked with the company, fixed the distortion in the market (the distortion which is causing the product to go wasted) and then started on a plan, to put the market on an even keel.

Blame the owners for not lobbying for their own rights. Shame though, as a good firm just went to waste, and now, on the other end, we can not pull ourselves away to support a local needed industry, because we can get it cheaper in the short term.
:gi:

Just want to see if you're paying attention to what's happening with your money...


i know i am now for sure.

Have you noticed that the price on Dairy and Meat items increased this past week?

Bey you talking about last week let's talk about every day, every hour , every minute no every second prices is going up They keep going , going , going , going , going & GOING...

It's getting too expensive living on the cheapest things now because they keep putting them up too.